Josh Lewsey believes Stuart Lancaster deserves to be given the England job permanently after restoring pride in his young team

Proved his worth: Stuart Lancaster has done well as England's interim boss

Today is the day England’s new generation can repay the faith that Stuart Lancaster has shown.

For three games, Lancaster has put his trust in young players he believes are the best hope of ­restoring pride in the Red Rose.

This
afternoon in Paris would be the perfect time for those guys to deliver
the victory that could push Lancaster a lot nearer to getting a
permanent appointment.

I’m backing them to do it, too, because there were encouraging signs for England in their defeat to a very strong Wales side.

They
played with a fluency and variety that caused problems and if they can
only get their back three of Ben Foden, Chris Ashton and Charlie
Sharples into the game a bit more regularly then France are there for
the taking. Owen Farrell was excellent against Wales and I’m expecting
him to pull the strings against a French team who have not impressed me
much in this tournament.

For
me, the French haven’t got out of third gear and they are already
chopping and changing their half-backs from one match to the next.

The
player they are really ­missing is the injured Dimitri Yachvili at
scrum-half while skipper Thierry Dusautoir has not recaptured his World
Cup form or inspired those other forwards around him.

England
cannot afford to kick loosely, because France will run it back at them
and if there’s one thing that can rouse them in Paris it is an
opportunity to launch counter-attacks.

That gets the crowd going and the French then feed off that energy.

But
energy is something England should have in abundance. They have had two
weeks to recover from the Wales game, while France were in a very tough
battle with the Irish only seven days ago.

Victory should give Lancaster a huge boost and maybe convince the RFU to hand him the job through to the next World Cup.

After
all, Jake White has said no and Nick Mallett is playing hard to get. An
Englishman who wants the job – and who is making progress – should be
the way to go.